Water Lectures for November 2008

Good to the last drop: Water Lectures for November 2008
Palm Beach and Martin County Florida

Friday November 7th- Friends of the Loxahatchee River Meeting
The meeting is at noon at the River Center and a light lunch will be served. Our guest speaker will be David Roach from the Florida Inland Navigation District. He will present a brief history of the Atlantic Intercoastal Waterway and its current use and management.
Contact Jocelyn P. O'Neill Environmental Education Coordinator for more details.
http://www.loxahatcheeriver.org/environmental_center.php

Tuesday November 11th- Palm Beach Reef Research Team
The meeting is held from 7pm-9pm on the 2nd Tuesday of each month in Building 509 of the ERM complex. For more information contact Lin Creel
http://www.pbcrrt.org/

Thursday November 13th - Loggerhead Marine Life Center Lecture
“Changing Tides: Strategies to Protect America’s Oceans." From 6:30-9pmGuest Speaker: David White, Director, Ocean Conservancy. Wine and Cheese reception is included. Cost is $5 for LMC members and $8 non-members. Seating limited; RSVP is required. Contact Loggerhead MLC
http://www.marinelife.org/eventscalendar

Saturday November 17th- Tequesta Harvest Festival Lecture
“The State of the Oceans; first Global then Local”; 2 presentations regarding Florida’s impending water crisis. Guest Speakers: Terry Gibson and William Djubin.
At 1:30pm speakers will present an informative view into the most current state of our global ocean eco-systems. William will discuss Reef Check, EPA Clean Water Act, inland waters impaired and salt water intrusion action.Then at 3:30 PM he will discuss the state of Florida Reefs, speaking on a local level about the same topics as abovehttp://www.tequesta.org/index.asp?NID=466

30 Days in Florida; Environment News

Environmental News for Florida; the last 30 days

This Florida News briefing made possible from the sale of Green License Plates and EarthRehab

Florida has been a hot spot for Environmental News over the last 30 days. I would like to highlight and link to a few great moments.

June 24, 2008- Governor Crist tells US Sugar to pack their bags and buys back a section of the “River of Grass.”
The Sugar Deal

July 7-11, 2008- To kick off the 11th International Coral Reef Symposium, Governor Charlie Crist signed a bill to close all of the sewage pipes that pump 300 million gallons of untreated sewage into the Atlantic Gulf-stream. Ed Tichenor and Reef Rescue of the Palm Beaches get the hard won victory and credit.
The Sewage Deal

July 16, 2008- Surfrider Foundation and the City of Lake Worth join in a lawsuit to stop the useless Dredge and Fill projects that suffocate the Reefs.
The Dredge Lawsuit

July 16, 2008- Ciguatera Outbreak, 5 cases reported in Florida. Ciguatera is a disease caused when you eat reef fish that have consumed Harmful Algae Blooms.
The Ciguatera Outbreak

July 17, 2008- EarthJustice files a lawsuit for Clean Water Act enforcement in Florida vs. Harmful Algae Blooms.
The Clean Water Lawsuit

Help celebrate Environmental Victories and support Nature Research with the 100% Bright Blank Recycled Green License Plate by EarthRehab.
Check out the photos.

ICRS 2008 summary by EarthRehab

ICRS 2008/ 11th International Coral Reef Symposium
The International Year of the Reef 2008
Broward County Convention Center, Ft. Lauderdale Florida
July 7-11, 2008


EarthRehab, WJTW, and Taras Oceanographic made the following journal and summary possible. Author: William Djubin, Founder of EarthRehab.

EarthRehab was founded to create Global Awareness and Funding for Nature Research.
Many thanks go to EPA, ERM, World Bank, The Nature Conservancy, NOAA, Reef Check and participating Scientists from around the World. This Symposium had over 3,500 attendees with the same agenda “Reefs for the Future”.

During my visits to the Symposium I tried to get a daily healthy mix of venues, The Reef and Ocean Free Education and Expo, Press Briefings, Scientific Lectures, and Posters.

Facts pertaining to Coral Reef Ecosystems:
Seas and oceans comprise over 70% of the Earth’s surface
Coral Reefs occupy less than ¼ of 1 percent of the marine environment
Greater than 25% of all marine fish species live on coral reefs
More than 500 million people across the world depend on coral reefs for food, coastal protection, livelihoods, and tourism income
More than 30 million people (poor nations) depend almost entirely on coral reefs for food and protection.
In 1998 approximately 16% of the world’s coral reefs died due to temperature change and coral bleaching.
In 2005 bleaching records for Belize; USVI and Mexico 25%-45%; Caribbean 50%-95%; Trinidad and Tobago 85%;

Day 1

To kick off the event in typical 2008 Year of the Reef fashion, Governor Charlie Crist signed a bill to close all of the sewage pipes that pump 300 million gallons of untreated sewage into the Atlantic Gulf-stream. Ed Tichenor and Reef Rescue of the Palm Beaches get the hard won victory and credit.

Day 2

Media Press Release Coral Reef Fish, where are they going? Presentations by Geoffrey Jones, Bob Warner, and Phil Munday
· 30-60% of reef species return to place of birth and can migrate up to 30 Km.
· Climate Change is degrading the Habitat with Coral Bleaching, Loss of Coral, and Ocean Acidification
Question for the panel - If we could rejuvenate the Coral Reef Ecosystem and Tropical Reef Fish stock levels, would this reduce rising ocean temperatures and acidification?
Answer from panel – No; we are too far in the process. Global Climate change and Green House Gases must be taken seriously now before disastrous events occur.
I met the EPA. William Fisher of the EPA welcomed me to the Symposium and we spoke of TMDL and WQMS for the world’s oceans. The EPA addressed the scientific community regarding Biological Assessments and Defensible Monitoring utilizing the Clean Water Act and Reef Check methodologies.

Day 3
Media Press Release Coral Disease Beyond the Symptoms. Presentations by Drew Harvell, John Bruno, Laurie Raymundo, Tyler Christensen
· Climate change is affecting coral reefs with disease; we need to reduce emission levels to reduce stress on the reef system. Marine protected areas with a more diverse community of fishes showed less disease. Seaweed and algae do not cause coral disease or bleaching; however, dissolved organic carbon does. We must maintain a diversity of reef fishes.
EPA Patricia Bradley made a presentation regarding the Clean Water Act to protect Marine Managed Areas or monitored reef ecosystems from land based pollution. Encouraged scientists to utilize the authority of the Clean Water Act for Bio-criteria, gave special thanks to William Fisher.

Day 4
Media Press Release Untold Stories of Climate Change and Corals. Presentations by Simon Donner, Douglas Fenner, Guillermo Diaz-Pulido, Susan Colley, Dr. Finn
· 3 specific separate factors: rising CO2 not climate change, rising ocean temperatures, changing ocean chemistry
· American Samoa has a constant 5year bleaching, death, re-growth cycle
· We must separate and understand 2 types of algae good vs. bad
· Seaweeds and algae do not fair well with high CO2 either
· Pacific Ocean from Mexico to S. America including the Galapagos Islands reporting marginal and disturbed habitat for coral reefs, no coral reefs exist in Galapagos only reef colonies
· Calcifying Organisms cannot withstand ocean acidification and CO2 rising levels
· Effects of Global Climate Change have a lag affect, it will take a long time to slow the processes, and we need immediate actions.

Question for the panel - How much affect does land based pollution has on bad algae outbreaks?
Answer from panel- Answer: Increased growth rate of bad algae with nutrient rich waters.

Question for the panel - How much affect does land based pollution has on Ocean Acidification?
Answer from panel- This is a location specific question: Florida has a nutrient issue with ocean pollution, and nutrient issues do not exist worldwide. Bleaching will become a problem before Ocean Acidification due to ocean temperatures rising. With acidification, deep ocean reefs will be the first affected, saturation of deeper reefs make them more vulnerable and at risk

Media Press Release NOAA Conrad Lautenbacher Administrator, Admiral
Admiral Lautenbacher attends the symposium to support NOAA and the scientists
Life in the oceans sustain life on Earth
Florida Keys NMS a success NHINM single largest coral reef achievement in the World
Our degrading reef problem is an international problem, NOAA committed to climate study, climate monitoring, interactment with IPCC, provide science for climatologist,
Global Carbon Monitoring System is needed now; satellite and ground based collaboration.. US has 60 carbon monitoring stations in place.
Currently NOAA is under budgeted and reached a plateau from Congress. President Bush aided with additional funds. Future climate is favorable for budgets, and the G8 outcome looks positive
Ocean illiteracy is the United States’ biggest problem and we need to educate.

Closing Statements

We can reduce land-based pollution now
We can reduce over fishing now
We need to buy time now while we solve our Greenhouse fuel emissions issues or our reef systems will collapse
I have full abstracts from the Press Briefings and posted photography on Flickr.

Visit the Group 11th International Coral Reef Symposium to view pics of presentations, posters, press releases. http://www.flickr.com/groups/icrs/

EarthRehab & World Ocean Day 2008 recap and photos

EarthRehab & World Ocean Day 2008 recap and photos

We celebrated World Ocean Day on June 7th and 8th for 2008.
EarthRehab joined the Friends of Jupiter Beach at 8am for a beach cleanup, and made sure that any volunteer that participated received a Green License Plate complimentary.
The Green License Plate campaign is a fundraiser for Nature Research. The Worlds most productive and respected Environmental Foundations and Sanctuaries receive the proceeds from the sale of the $10 plate. Visit EarthRehab today and see who is involved.

One June 7th and 8th at 11am we arrived at Coral Cove Park in Jupiter for a Group Snorkel.

EarthRehab explained the different habitats the group would encounter, Live Rock, Brown Algae, Worm Rock, Sponge, Red Algae, Sea Grass, and Limestone. We expected to see many Tropical Fish on the Reef because the visibility was greater than 20’.

So what did the Ocean Adventurers see underneath the water on this Coral Reef Eco-system?
A Green Sea Turtle, Manatee, Barracuda, Snook, Jacks, Blue Fish, Cuttlefish, French Grunt, Hog Fish, Angel Fish, Damsel Fish, Gobies, Blennies, Sergeant Major, Basslet, Parrotfish, Blue head Wrasse, and a Nurse Shark.

EarthRehab explained that the fish stock levels were down due to the Algae and Sediment buildup. Then to illustrate the point we took a deck brush out to the reef and cleaned small sections to allow the snorkelers an opportunity to see the Mature Purple Live Rock beneath. As we scrubbed the reef massive amounts of Tropical Fish showed their appreciation and searched the Live Rock for Invertebrate Worms.
The mature Live Rock that is present on this Reef could host several species of Invertebrate Soft Corals and Sponges if given the chance.

Learn more about the EarthRehab Coral Reef Initiative Here.

Floridians for Clean Water Act of 1972 enforcement

Citizen Enforcement

The drafters of the Clean Water Act foresaw failures in 1972.
The CWA allows citizens to sue the EPA for not doing their own
work or making sure the states do theirs. If the state agency
is failing to stop water pollution and permit violations,
citizens can file an 118a complaint letter to the commissioner
of DEP or EPA reporting the violation. The commissioner is
obligated to look into the lack of enforcement and report.

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Trying to save a Coral Reef is an exciting move, and one that I face everyday. The problem is that we pollute too much of the Oceans Waters.

We could send 10,000 Eco-divers to remove the bad bacterium and algae from your Reef but without proper Water Quality Monitoring and Pollution Control it would be a huge waste of time. Sign the Declaration of Reef Rights and the Enforce the Federal Clean Water Act petition online. http://www.reefcheck.org/petition/petition.php http://apps.facebook.com/petitions/view?pid=139396069

In Florida a steady Black River of Death and Pollution stretch to the Gulfstream Atlantic everyday from every port.
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I met with the President/Founder of Reef Check Dr.Gregor Hodgson at the Green Living Expo in LA. and we talked Ocean Pollution.

As well at the Expo was Mary Luna the NGO coordinator for the International Year of the Reef 2008, we talked Ocean Pollution.

I met with the Executive Director of Perry Institute for Marine Science Dr. John Marr at my beach cleanup in Florida and we talked Ocean Pollution.

Then I drove over the Roosevelt Bridge that stretches over the St. Lucie River from Stuart to Jensen Beach and saw a Black River of Death and Pollution as far as eyes could see. This prompted me to (a) find out who is responsible and report the pollution (b) draft a petition to Enforce the Federal Clean Water Act (DEP) and (EPA). http://apps.facebook.com/petitions/view?pid=139396069 http://www.socialactions.com/node/36299

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/enforce-the-federal-clean-water-act

Many States have had success with inviting the EPA to Enforce their States disposition, not Florida, too much work, not enough staff....

Let the EPA know that you are concerned for the Future of our Oceans by investigating the Water Quality that exits to the Gulfstream Daily.

Sign this petition online, or download the Original.

Water Quality Monitoring and TMDL

The Term Water Quality Monitoring and Abbreviations WQMS and TMDL will become more familiar over the next century.
The simple fact that our Current System for calculating TMDL or Total Maximum Daily Loads for a Water Quality Monitoring Standard is broken.You could spend an entire week researching future and past meeting minutes and power point presentations regarding WQMS and come to the only conclusion, our current Water Quality Monitoring System is broken; and the standard for judging clean healthy water is broken.
Here are the Minutes for a meeting in December 2007: http://acwi.gov/monitoring/minutes/san_diego_120407.html

If any Group or Foundation claims to be a Coral Reef Initiative, the very first step should be a Water Quality Monitoring Program.Without a Water Quality Monitoring Program in place and working they are just spinning their wheels and wasting their investors money.

EarthRehab has established a Coral Reef Initiative in which Phase 1 is to establish a Water Quality Monitoring Program for South East Florida and The Atlantic Ocean Gulf-stream.

The funding for this program is made possible solely by the sale of Our Green License Plate, with proceeds to benefit Nature Research.visit http://www.earthrehab.com/

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Marine Preserve proposal for SE Florida; at FWC

Marine Preserve proposal w/ public hearing today..

Marine Preserve from coastline to 90 ft. for SouthEast Florida proposal.(credit to Sun Sentinel)

The federal government is now proposing to declare an extensive protected area for the two species from the coasts of Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade counties through the Florida Keys to the U.S. islands of the Caribbean.
Designation of the 4,931-square-mile area could affect plans for beach-widening, port expansions, sewage discharges, ship anchoring and other coastal activities.
Although it is unlikely to halt them, it would add a layer of scrutiny that could force changes or relocations to avoid harming the corals, said Sarah Heberling, natural resource specialist for the National Marine Fisheries Service

Invitation to collaborate for this effort.(credit to Ed Tichnor, Executive Director of Reef Rescue)

Critical Habitat designation Proposed to protect threatened Florida Corals Under the Endangered Species Act the federal government has proposed designating almost 5,000 square miles of reef area off the coasts of Florida, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands as critical habitat for the protection of threatened Staghorn and Elkhorn corals.
The area includes all coastal waters in Palm Beach County from the beach out to 90 feet deep. Critical habitat is one of the most important safety nets for wildlife listed under the Endangered Species Act, said Miyoko Sakashita, attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity.

A public hearing will be held on the proposal Tuesday, March 4, 7-9 p.m. at the International Game Fish Association, 300 Gulf Stream Way, Dania Beach.

EarthRehab’s William will attend "said" meeting and keep this thread posted of the outfalls.